Felix Skowronek
Felix Skowronek (August 21, 1935 – April 17, 2006) was an American flutist and professor of music.
Education
Skowronek studied in Seattle with Fred H. Wing and Frank Horsfall,[1] and for a few summers with Donald Peck.[2] He later studied with William Kincaid at the Curtis Institute of Music.[3]
Career
Skowronek played principal flute for the Seattle Symphony (1956–57 and 1959–60), Seventh Army Symphony (1957–59), Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (1960–66), and St. Louis Symphony (1966–68), and was a member of the Casals Festival orchestra in Puerto Rico. He was a founding member of the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet.
He became a member of the faculty of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, followed by the University of Washington.[4] He also served as president of the National Flute Association and Seattle Flute Society.
He was a leading figure in the revival of wooden Boehm-style flutes in the USA. He was an expert in the use of various hardwoods in flute manufacturing. He was also a consultant with Verne Q. Powell Flutes Inc. in its attempt to reintroduce the wooden flute to the United States on a major scale.[5]
References
- Louis R. Guzzo, "Symphony Signs Franklin Graduate As First Flutist", The Seattle Times, July 20, 1956, p. 17.
- Donald Peck, The Right Place, The Right Time!: Tales of Chicago Symphony Days (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007): 127. ISBN 9780253116888
- Megan Lyden, "The Story of the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet" DMA diss (Seattle: University of Washington, 2000): 215.
- Dunphy, Mary Elayne (22 September 1968). "Wind Quintet Joins U.W. Music School" (PDF). The Seattle Times. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
- Campbell, R.M. (19 April 2006). "Felix Skowronek, 1935–2006: UW Professor Was a Wooden-Flute Authority". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
